LAS VEGAS--Motorola is a strong player in the 2-way radio market, popular among outdoor workers, hikers, travel caravans, and parents. In an effort to increase the market for these devices, they've unveiled four new radios scheduled for release late this year. They are still going through a few design tweaks, but major features and pricing are already in place.

T5SOL: Most radios with long five-mile ranges tend to drain batteries, but this model will extend battery life with a solar panel. The panel only trickle-charges the battery, so it's not meant to be a means of recharging the radio, but it provides enough power to seriously reduce power drain in standby mode. It should cost $79 a pair.

T5GAM: For parents that want to keep in touch with young kids, this model will include four simple games on the LCD screen and an industrial design that is definitely kid-friendly. The exact games have not yet been announced, but we are told they will be relatively simple, name brand titles along the lines of Pac-Man or Frogger. It's certainly not meant to compete with GameBoy, but it might be enough to get the kids to keep the radio around and turned on. The T5GAM will have a 2-mile range and will cost $39 each.

T5MP3: If you don't want to carry around your MP3 player and 2-way radio, this model will play MP3 files off a Secure Digital card. At $79 a pair with a 64MB SD card included, it's a pretty good deal, but pricing may change depending on the cost of SD media later this year. For those tech-heads out there, we're told that connecting the radio to your computer via USB should make it simply show up as a drive letter, allowing you to drag-and-drop files to your SD card and thus use the radio as a portable file storage device as well. The svelte T5MP3 will have a two-mile range.

T5SMS: We're not sure why you would want to type messages to someone else who has a two-way radio and is within range, but that's exactly what the T5SMS allows you to do--perhaps to send phone numbers or driving directions in a noisy area? The T5SMS includes a thumb keyboard and a five-mile range. The design is still undergoing several changes and pricing has not yet been decided.

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About the Author

Jason was a certified computer geek at an early age, playing with his family's Apple II when he was still barely able to write. It didn't take long for him to start playing with the hardware, adding in 80-column cards and additional RAM as his family moved up through Apple II+, IIe, IIgs, and eventually the Macintosh. He was sucked into Intel based... See Full Bio

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